The Egyptian Organization For Human Rights (EOHR) expresses its deepest worries about the continued detention of the protesters in peaceful demonstrations in the Egyptian governorates that took place on Friday in solidarity with people in Gaza Strip .It calls for the immediate release in accordance with the Constitution and the international covenants concerned with human rights which guarantee the right to peaceful assembly and to participate in general meetings (article 54 of the Constitution, article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), as well as the right to freedom of opinion and expression (article 47 of the Constitution, article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

The demonstrations witnessed a set of violations as the security forces besieged all roads leading to “Ramsis square” prevented demonstrators to express about their opinions , also security forces enlarged the random arrests and detentions and prevented all mass media to cover the event of demonstrations .

The number of detainees are about 309 detainees from the following governorates ( Al Sharkia , Al Dakahlia , Damietta, Giza, Alexandria, Monoufia)

The campaign of arrests occurred before they could move to Cairo Governorate to participate in the demonstration of Al Fateh Mosque on the last Friday . They were submitted to the State security prosecution as they were accused in case No. 21 -2009 of joining illegal group and possessing illegal documents , so it ordered the suspects to 15 days imprisonment pending investigation .

In this regard , EOHR confirms that the detention campaigns are considered a dangerous indicator to the right to the peaceful assembly and the freedom of opinion and expression , freedoms , and personal security which were guaranteed by the constitution and the international covenants concerned with human rights .

EOHR calls for the following :

As for the right to assemble peacefully :

- The Egyptian government has to take a serious and effective steps to issue a bill to abolish Law No. 10-1914 and Law No. 14 -1923 and to replace them with another law to organize the right to demonstrate in accordance with the Constitutional and international standards .

B – Giving the right to any party, group or organization to demonstrate according to generally accepted norms, namely:

-The partymay submita notification to the security bodies informing them with the demonstration direction , starting point and endpoint and the time of demonstration to take necessary measures for the protection of the demonstration.

-To allow the demonstrators to lift banners and slogans, and to meet journalists and representatives of news agencies.

C – To take all steps necessary to verify that individuals in Egypt are not prevented to practice their right to assemble peacefully .

D- To ensure that the Egyptian security forces are receiving the appropriate technical training to undertake their responsibility including the international standards to implement laws stipulated in UN code for responsible officials and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms.

E – The need for the Ministry of the Interior to issue clear instructions to security forces who deal with demonstrations not to use force to disperse demonstrators , in particular , the use of electric batons and sticks, or shooting whether live or rubber or spraybullets.

2 – As for the freedom and personal security :

EOHR confirms that the detentions campaign is considered a violation against the right to freedom and personal security guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and the international covenants concerned with human rights , so EOHR calls for the following :

1 – The immediate release for all detainees and political prisoners.

2 – Lifting the state of emergency and returning to the constitutional legality and the natural law as the state of emergency is considered a legal tool to violate the right to freedom and personal security and other rights guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and international covenants concerned with human rights .

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
and is filed under Statements.
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